2 am
by lilyun
Summary: Caroline gets an unexpected call from an unexpected person. If she's going to someday join Klaus in New Orleans, there has to be a path to get her there. Call this step one. Klaroline fluff.


Caroline Forbes slammed the door behind her and flung herself down on the front steps. Not that anyone would have been able to hear her over the drunken revelry that was Tyler's frat party. Normally Caroline was all for parties but she had been dragged to this one only to prove that it was okay to still date your high school girlfriend if she was hot. She'd been determined hot enough, Tyler given permission, and the beers started flowing. Passing the stupid frat boy's hot-o-meter didn't even make her happy–it was more irritating than anything else. Mainly because frat boy Tyler was too much like pre-werewolf Tyler and driving her crazy more often than not.

Sighing, Caroline pulled out her phone, scanning everything even though it was 2 am and no one else should be awake. If Elena was awake, she didn't want to know _what_ she was doing since it probably involved Damon and that was just eeww. Nothing was going on–everyone with half a brain was asleep, like she wanted to be. Scrolling through her pictures, she rested her chin on one hand and stared at the picture she had been ignoring for most the day. FOR SALE in giant letters outside the Original house. Her mom had sent it. It was incredibly ironic. Selling a house you didn't even own. Maybe he did own it for all she knew. He could have compelled the owner to give him the deed. She didn't know what was bothering her more; that he was getting rid of his last tie to Mystic Falls or that he hadn't told her he was doing it.

She scrolled past the FOR SALE picture to the last picture she had gotten from Klaus. Out of habit she looked over her shoulder, even though she knew Tyler was more than busy with his frat buddies. Klaus sent her pictures...on a semi-regular basis. Usually just the pictures, sometimes with a typically cryptic message but mostly just pictures. She'd been too surprised when she got the first one to delete it and then there was a second and a third and she..._liked_ getting them too much to get rid of them. She'd sent the FOR SALE one to him earlier with an indecent amount of question marks attached but he hadn't responded. The last picture he had sent her was of one of his paintings. She could recognize his style now. If she ever managed to make it to a museum of any renown, she didn't doubt she would recognize one of the paintings there as his. His latest was of the view out of a window, his, she assumed in New Orleans. His strokes were less angry than usual...softer somehow. She wondered if he was more at peace. Before the painting was a steaming coffee cup on a café table, the tops of his feet visible on the empty chair across from him. Before that was a picture of a sleeping Elijah, a moustache drawn on his face that she still wasn't certain was real. He'd sworn up and down that it was...or at least he'd sent her several texts that protested it wasn't the work of photo shop. There was even one from a grumpy sounding Elijah that confirmed it. The rest were more random; restaurants she assumed were his favorites, meals he had consumed, buildings he found picturesque. A horribly dressed woman that had made her laugh out loud while studying with Elena and she had to scramble to make up some sort of excuse. She didn't know if he sent them to her to show her the life in New Orleans she was supposedly missing out on or if he just wanted her to know he was still alive.

The worst part was...she sent pictures back. One of her dorm room the day she and Elena moved in, one of her stack of text books that had put such a gigantic hole in her bank account she never thought she was going to recover. One of the grossest food she had ever had the misfortune to consume from the cafeteria. Shoes she bought and shouldn't have. Alcohol she consumed in massive quantities. Tyler dressed as a woman when he was rushing his stupid frat. That one had been a risk but she thought he'd at least get a laugh out of it. Tyler was one ugly woman. He hadn't seemed angry afterwards. It hadn't been any longer before he sent her another picture but...she shouldn't have even been sending him pictures in the first place. She was having some sort of...weird...picture sharing relationship with him and she didn't even know why. _"I intend to be your last,"_ his voice echoed in her mind and she knew why.

Her phone dinged–who was sending her a text at 2 am? She exited out of her pictures and almost dropped the phone. Klaus?! Was he psychic as well as annoying?! Was he actually explaining that for sale sign? She opened it and nearly dropped the phone a second time. No picture. An actual message. She glanced over her shoulder but the party raged on inside–Tyler probably hadn't even noticed she was gone.

-Are you there, Caroline?-

God, maybe he _was_ psychic. She stared down at the text, her thumb poised as if to answer.

-If you're there, please answer when I call.-

"What? No, no, no no." She looked over her shoulder again but the party kept on going and her phone started ringing. Caroline stared at it, hating her ringtone for the first time since she purchased it, and looked over her shoulder one last time before she answered.

"Klaus? _Why_ are you calling me? You can't call me at two in the morning–"

"Caroline?" His voice was rough—she couldn't remember ever hearing him sound so...horrible–and she'd seen him in almost every mood he had.

"Yes. I answered the phone. What do you want?" It was impossible not to be snippy with him, even when he sounded like...he was broken or something but she couldn't help herself.

"Would you believe me if I said I just wanted to hear the sound of your voice?" She blinked and toyed with a strand of her hair.

"No. If all you wanted was to hear me talk, there's this thing called voice mail."

"Forgive me for preferring the live version."

"Klaus? Are you okay? You sound...not yourself." He made a sound that was something like a laugh but didn't have any real amusement behind it.

"I'm not exactly myself at the moment."

"What happened? Is something wrong? Not like you'd tell me if anything was but..."

"Caroline, I'd appreciate it if you would just talk about something–anything–it doesn't even have to be interesting, just talk. Where are you? What are you doing?" She swallowed, bit her lip and looked around before answering,

"Ignoring all the gross implications of that question, I'm at Tyler's stupid frat party, proving it's okay to date a hot high school girlfriend. I'm tired, reek of beer, and I just want to go back to my dorm room and sleep until noon but I can't find Tyler so I'm sitting out here. Talking to you."

"Don't make it sound so attractive, love."

"You said it didn't have to be interesting."

"Sometimes I say things I don't mean. Why aren't you regaling me with tales of your fantastic college lifestyle?" She snorted.

"I don't know. Maybe because I don't have any."

"Impossible."

"Oh it's possible, it's very possible. College hasn't exactly been the thrill a minute I expected it to be."

"Then you're doing something wrong."

"I'm not doing anything wrong it's just...the whole point of college is to figure out what you want to do in life. What am I supposed to do with my life, Klaus? Everything I ever wanted to do I can't anymore because eventually someone is going to realize that I'm not getting any older. Somewhere along the way, I fooled myself into thinking I could have something like a normal life and every day I spend here, I realize how utterly impossible that is. I'm going to live forever and I have no future."

He was so silent on the other end of the phone she was afraid he had hung up on her. Where all of that had come from, she didn't know. And whoever said you felt better when you said things had been lying. She didn't feel better, she just felt worse.

"Klaus? If you hung up on me, I swear..."

"I haven't hung up, Caroline."

"Then why aren't you saying 'I told you so?""

"Do you want me to say I told you so?"

"No. I want you to tell me how to live so I don't feel like it's all one colossal joke."

He was silent again and she found herself clutching her phone so tightly she was afraid it was going to snap in her hands. Once that would have just been exaggeration but now...stupid vampire strength. She forced her fingers to relax and waited, stupidly, for his answer.

"Tonight is not the night to ask me that question. My life has always been one colossal joke. I've given up trying to correct it."

"So you're not having the time of your life in New Orleans?"

"There are some...complications in New Orleans I wasn't expecting. I can't tell you how to find meaning in your life, Caroline. It's something that comes with time. Fortunately for you, time is something you have no shortage of. I may have been wrong about your attempt at a human experience."

"Say that again."

"Say what again?"

"Don't give me that, you know what."

"You should try to be human for as long as you can, Caroline. Pining for the human experience made a mockery of my sister and she still can't stop herself from wanting it. So go, do all the human things you can. Pretend to be one of them until you can't stand it any more. Or it will haunt you for the rest of your immortal life."

"That is so not what I expected you to say."

"What did you expect me to say?"

"Your usual sales pitch. What happened to 'come to New Orleans Caroline and I'll show you everything life has to offer?'"

"New Orleans is the last place I want you to be. You are not to come here under any circumstances, do you understand me?"

"I'll make sure to cancel that nonexistent plane ticket then. What's going on that you don't want me there anymore?"

"Complications."

"Complications?! That's it?!"

"I really don't want to hang up on you, Caroline, but if you insist on..."

"Fine, hang up. I don't know why I'm talking to you anyway."

The other end of the phone was silent for a moment that stretched into really long minutes.

"I can't. Not yet." She groaned with frustration.

"I don't even want to try and figure out what is going on with you."

"I didn't ask you to, love, you're the one who wants to know."

"I don't want to know. Do you have any idea how irritating you are to talk to?"

"I may have heard that once or twice over the centuries."

"If you don't say something serious I really will hang up this phone right now and you'll have to deal with whatever it is that's bothering you all by yourself like you deserve to."

"I miss you, Caroline."

_Crap_. Of course he called her bluff. Damn him. She opened and closed her mouth several times but nothing came out. The silence on the other end of the phone intensified. She could almost _feel_ him willing her to either deny or acknowledge she felt the same, accompanied by his growing pleasure at her silence. As clearly as if he stood before her, she saw that insufferable smirk of his spread across his lips, starting slowly at one corner before finding the rest of his mouth and she blinked to clear herself of the vision.

"Why are you selling your house?"

Tonight would go down in history as a night where she continually said exactly what she shouldn't. Even before she was stupid enough to answer her phone, she had said things to Tyler, to Elena, it was just a Caroline foot in mouth day. She really needed to go home and go to bed. He was silent again...the grin she had imagined was probably gone. She was actually sorry she had wiped it away.

"The same reason anyone sells their house, I suppose. There's something I wish to purchase, I'm in need of funds, the house is something I no longer need."

"Can you even sell something you don't legally own?"

"I am the legal owner."

"Because you compelled the owner to give you the deed."

"How I acquired it doesn't matter. It's in my possession and I intend to sell. I would think you'd be glad to see the last piece of me gone from Mystic Falls."

"I never said I wasn't glad, I just...thought your house was like the Salvatore's. A place to come back to." There it was again, she could _feel_ that stupid smirk even though she couldn't see it. Even worse, she had no one to blame for its existence besides herself.

"Rest assured, Caroline, as long as you choose to call Mystic Falls your home, I have a reason to come back. Or is that not what's worrying you?"

"Nothing is worrying me. It was just curiosity."

"Curiosity?"

"Look, I know it's a flimsy excuse, just let me have it, okay?"

"Caroline? Car, are you out here?"

Tyler. Caroline sprang up from the stairs and ducked behind one of the trees. Great, now she was hiding from Tyler to keep talking to Klaus. Nothing made sense anymore, absolutely nothing.

"Your devoted boyfriend has finally noticed your absence, has he?"

"Shhh." Laughter, actual laughter from the other end of the phone and she put her hand over it before plunging deeper into the trees surrounding the frat house.

"I'm touched by your attempt to keep this from him, love, but I have to go. There are...things that require my attention."

"That wouldn't be the same "things" that made you call me at 2 am without an explanation, would it?"

"Caroline, don't ruin what has otherwise been a pleasant diversion."

"Caroline! Car!" Tyler called for her again and she pressed herself up against the tree, willing herself to blend into the bark.

"Well the next time you need a diversion at 2 am, don't call me."

"I'll do my best to oblige."

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Concern for my welfare? I'm touched." He was actually laughing again and she wished she could reach through the phone and throttle him.

"Shut up and be serious."

"Yes, I am okay. The big bad darkness has been chased away."

"Did you miss the part about being serious?"

"I was being serious. Thank you for reminding me there is something beautiful left in this world."

"_Why_ do you always have to say things like that?" She closed her eyes and slid down the tree trunk to sit on the ground. There was no sound of Tyler anywhere. She wasn't certain if she was grateful or disappointed he had abandoned his search for her so easily.

"Like what, love?"

"I'm not going to explain it to you just to inflate your already over-inflated ego."

"You seem to be having difficulty letting me go, Caroline."

"If I can't hang up it's because you won't let me."

"Am I the first hybrid to master long distance compulsion then? Someone really should have told me."

"I am hanging up now, seriously."

"Good-night, Caroline."

"I do, you know." More Caroline-foot-in-mouth, was it ever going to stop?! "Miss you. I don't want to, but I do. And you can call me if you need to talk to someone. I don't want to wake up and read about some mass slaughter in New Orleans and know I could have maybe kept the numbers down."

He was so quiet she almost hoped he had hung up on her and she wouldn't have to feel so embarrassed.

"Thank you, Caroline. Good-night, again."

"Good-night." She hung up before she could change her mind and sat, the phone still in her hand, staring numbly off into space. There was no doubt about it. She had completely lost her mind.

"Car! There you are." She bolted upright as Tyler appeared in the shadows, reeking of beer but disgustingly steady on his feet. "What are you doing all the way out here?"

"Talking to Elena. She and Damon are having issues."

"When aren't they?"

"No kidding. Can we go home, I'm exhausted."

"Sure."

Tyler slipped his arm around her and it took all of her willpower not to flinch away from him. He started talking about the party as he led her away from the frat house and she nodded and "mmm"-ed in all the right places, but she wasn't really listening. What had she gotten herself into? All that time she had ragged on Elena for letting Damon in and now she was doing the exact same thing? All because Klaus knew how to use words and glances to his advantage. He could make even the simplest word sound seductive and even when she wasn't physically with him, he still had this way of making her feel as if she were the only thing that mattered to him, that would ever matter to him. And yet there were those "complications" in New Orleans. Things he had to take care of that he wouldn't share with her. And why should he? One phone call where she stupidly babbled that she actually missed seeing him wasn't enough to make him tell her his secrets. Why did she even want him to? She should delete the next picture he sent her. She should delete them all and block his number so she never got another call from him. But she wouldn't. She couldn't.

Klaus Mikaelson hung up his phone, his trademark smile spreading slowly across his lips. Progress. Definitely progress. Somewhere buried deep inside, pure glee, the giddy kind–like a schoolboy's–trickled through him and in another time, another place, another identity he could have basked in it. The bodies strewn about his apartment was just one of the circumstances that wouldn't let him.

Marcel's repeated attempts to kill him were getting tiresome. Perhaps it was time to finally divulge the information that his death would mean all their deaths. He'd been hoping to keep that particular secret for a little while longer, but Marcel was...persistent. All the more reason why Caroline could never come to New Orleans while his former street rat turned protégé was in control. Once Marcel's regime was overthrown, maybe then he could spend some time trying to convince her she deserved better than that moronic frat boy Tyler and the mundane trappings of an ordinary human life but for now he wanted her far far away. Safe.

The bodies could wait until morning. If he was very fortunate, Elijah would take care of them. He'd just spend another night on the terrace. It was getting to the point where he wondered why he bothered to have a bed at all, he never slept there. Stepping outside, Klaus flung himself down on his favorite chair and hooked the edge of Elijah's in order to draw it over for him to rest his feet on. There was still blood on his hands, from his fight with Marcel's minions, but he didn't care. Pulling out his phone, he opened up his pictures and began his usual nighttime ritual of scrolling through the pictures he had sent to Caroline and the ones she sent back to him.

"Someday, Caroline. Someday."

A/N: I own nothing. Mainly I wrote this because I figure we have an entire summer to hope and dream about how Klaus and Caroline could eventually end up together before The Originals comes along and completely squashes all of it. Not knowing how the Originals is going to go also makes writing what Klaus is doing somewhat problematic but still fun. Hopefully it tides all of us over until October. Also wrote it because that last scene between the two of them was so fantastic I was obsessed with it for two weeks.


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